Aussie legend details what made Indian hero such a stunning batsman

Warne will skipper a Rest of the World side against an MCC XI captained by Tendulkar on Saturday, July 5, in a match which will celebrate the Home of Cricket's bicentenary.

The former Australian spinner will get to bowl his twirl at the likes of countryman and T20 extraordinaire Aaron Finch, West Indies legend Brian Lara and ex-India batsman Rahul Dravid in the 50-over-a-side encounter.

But he is particularly looking forward to duelling with Tendulkar - and told Cricket Extra why the Mumbai-born star was always so hard to dislodge during his heyday.

"Knowing him the way I do, he will have been practising every day for three hours for this game," Warne said of Tendulkar, who retired from cricket in 2013 with 100 international centuries to his name.

"Sachin smashed me all over the park most of the time and he really seemed to lift his game against Australia, at a time when we were the No 1 side in the world.

"If you wanted someone to make 200 on the last day when you need 400 to win, you'd have [Brian] Lara but day in, day out, Sachin, considering the pressure he was under and the expectations placed upon him, was outstanding.

"He picked up the length of any bowler and could hit Glenn McGrath for six, or play sweeps and use his feet when the spinners came on.

Mate

"He never got stuck on the crease and went backwards and forwards so quickly and always picked the gaps.

"He had all the shots and that made him very hard to bowl to, while he would also punish any semblance of a bad ball.

"I used to love the battles, though, and we had a lot of fun and now I have got to know him as a mate as well as a cricketer."

On the MCC-Rest of the World match, which will also feature appearances from Kevin Pietersen, Adam Gilchrist, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shahid Afridi, Warne added: "It's going to be great fun.

"When I got the call and was asked whether I wanted to captain the Rest of the World to celebrate 200 years [of Lord's] it was a pretty proud moment.

"To play in this sort of game is going to be magic and it is always special to play at Lord's - though I will probably have to get in the nets at some stage as I haven't done it for 18 months!

"There will be a packed house and I think everyone will get into the spirit and the chance to watch the best players of the last 20 years will be great."

If you have not been lucky enough to obtain a ticket for the match, don't fret, as you can watch it live on Sky Sports 2, as well as receive extensive updates on skysports.com.